A new report on China's military power from the Defense Intelligence Agency just revealed yet another Chinese stealth bomber project.

China is known to be working on a long-range stealth bomber that's most likely a match to the US's B-2 Spirit bomber, but the intelligence report suggested a new fighter/bomber.

The fighter/bomber concept makes a lot of sense for China in the Pacific, where a war with the US or Japan is a rising possibility to prepare for.

China has some very long range air-to-air missiles, and a medium-range stealth bomber that can out-reach short range US fighters like the F-35 could give them an edge in combat over the South China Sea.

China "is developing new medium- and long-range stealth bombers to strike regional and global targets," the report reads. "Stealth technology continues to play a key role in the development of these new bombers, which probably will reach initial operational capability no sooner than 2025," it continued.

Today, China holds perhaps the world's most passive nuclear arsenal with nuclear warheads that never arm missiles and nominally "nuclear-capable" bombers that have never flown missions with nuclear warheads on board.

China's only current bomber is the H-6K, an updated, licensed knock off of the Soviet Tupolev Tu-16, which entered into service in 1954 and was retired by Moscow in 1993.

Fighter/bomber?

Experts who spoke to Business Insider about China's H-20 described the bomber as likely looking a lot like the US's B-2, a big, flat, flying wing type design.

But the DIA hinted at something a bit more sporty in its report for the second mystery bomber.

"These new bombers will have additional capabilities, with full-spectrum upgrades compared with current operational bomber fleets, and will employ many fifth-generation fighter technologies in their design," the report said.

While a long-range flying wing type bomber like the H-20 has little use for fighter maneuvers, a medium-range fighter/bomber aircraft could easily make use of the avionics and tactics China gained in developing its stealth fighter, the J-20.

The DIA in a table later in the report refers to the second bomber as a "tactical bomber" and with a fighter/bomber mission, an advanced radar and long-range air-to-air missiles.

The Drive points out that a bomber like the one described by the DIA would have increased endurance and wouldn't rely so heavily on refueling tankers, thought to be a weak link with US combat aircraft.

Secret weapon?

Image shows the unnamed Chinese long range missile that could be a big problem for the US.dafeng cao via Twitter

China has long been developing a massive, 19-foot long very long range air-to-air missile that experts say could pose a direct challenge to top US fighters like the F-35, F-22, and all legacy aircraft.

But the J-20 likely can't carry this long missile. A stealthy platform with a large internal weapons bay, like the fighter/bomber describe by the DIA, in theory, could handle this weapon.

With both an air-to-air and an air-to-ground mission, the mysterious new bomber may represent a missing link in China's emerging vision of air supremacy against the US.

"The best solution to this problem I can figure out is to send a super-maneuverable fighter jet with very long-range missiles to destroy those high-value targets, which are the 'eyes' of enemy jets," Air force researcher Fu Qianshao told Chinese media of its new long-range missile.

Super-maneuverability is one of the fifth-generation fighter characteristics that China may employ on its new bomber, according to the DIA.

"So the successful development of this potential new missile would be a major breakthrough," said Fu. China's J-20. Times Asi/Flickr

But China, by following through on a medium range fighter bomber with long range missiles, may have cracked the code of how to dominate the skies of the Pacific while the US pours money into short range fighters like the F-35 or long-range bombers like the B-21.